TORONTO: Solemn Latin Mass for Our Lady of the Rosary

Please join the Knights of Columbus of Blessed John XXIII Council 4976 and their guests from the  Knights of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; and the Toronto Traditional Mass Society-UNA VOCE TORONTO, as we gather to honour Our Lady and her victory at the Battle of Lepanto. The Mass will be held on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, Monday, October 7, 2013 at St. Cecelia's Catholic Church at 161 Annette Street, just east of Keele Street in Toronto. A public recitation of the Holy Rosary will begin at 6:30 P.M and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) will be available with the Solemn Mass according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite following at 7:00 P.M. We are pleased to announce that the homilist is Father Raymond J. de Souza.

A collection will be taken to support the ongoing restoration at St. Cecelia's and this will be specifically granted to the church hall. Cheques may be made out to St. Cecelia's Catholic Church Building Fund.

Battle of Lepanto

On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under the command of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and shed tears of thanksgiving to God.

What you may not know is that one of three admirals commanding the Catholic forces at Lepanto was Andrea Doria. He carried a small copy of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. This image is now enshrined in the Church of San Stefano in Aveto, Italy. Not many know that at the Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain, one can view a huge warship lantern that was captured from the Moslems in the Battle of Lepanto. In Rome, look up to the ceiling of S. Maria in Aracoeli and behold decorations in gold taken from the Turkish galleys. In the Doges' Palace in Venice, Italy, one can witness a giant Islamic flag that is now a trophy from a vanquished Turkish ship from the Victory. At Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome, close to the tomb of the great St. Pope Pius V, one was once able to view yet another Islamic flag from the Battle, until 1965, when it was returned to Istanbul in an intended friendly token of concord.

The Rosary

At Lepanto, the Victory over the Moslems was won by the faithful praying the Rosary. Even though they had superior numbers, the Turks really were overmatched. Blessed Padre Pio, the Spiritual Father of the Blue Army, said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was!

The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716 (who canonized Pope Pius V in 1712).

And with that we are back to Fatima, Portugal where Our Lady, when asked her name, said: "I am the Lady of the Rosary." At Fatima, Our Lady taught us to pray the Rosary every day. Heaven presented its peace plan at Fatima and truly gave us hope for the world. Conversions were promised at Fatima: the conversion of sinners; the conversion of Russia; and what also appears to be the conversion of Islam. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

Taken from:

Soul Magazine

© 2001 The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, U.S.A., Inc.

September - October 2001, page 6

For subscription information:

The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, U.S.A., Inc.

PO Box 976

Washington, NJ 07882-0976

Website: http://www.bluearmy.com

E-mail: service@bluearmy.com

or Phone Toll Free: 866-513-1917

The end of he world as we know it

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday welcomed Pope Francis' recent remarks that the Catholic Church must shake off an obsession with teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuals, saying the pontiff was showing incredible humility.

"I tell you, I have been hugely impressed with the pope's pronouncements," Obama said in a CNBC interview.

Obama has worked to expand gay rights as president and last year backed same-sex marriage. He also supports the use of contraception and a woman's right to an abortion.

Pope Francis told the Italian Jesuit Journal last month that the Church had "locked itself up in small things" by its obsession with abortion, contraception and homosexuality.

Obama said the pope seemed to be someone who "lives out the teachings of Christ" and shows "incredible humility" toward the poor.

"That's a quality I admire," said Obama, who has yet to meet the new pope.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Holding my tongue as best I can

When one wakes to a world where the to find that "The most serious of evils that afflict the world in recent years are youth unemployment and the solitude in which the old are left" when I nursed my mother to the day she died in my home and raised my son who is now 24, gainfully employed, on the other side of the continent, one can imagine how hard it is to hold my tongue. Truly, these are problems which afflict modern society due to globalist economic dominance and family breakdown; but, "the most serious?" 

Abortion.

Pornography.

Murder of innocents.

Human slavery.

Religious indifference.

Radical secular atheism.

Abuse of drugs and exploitation of the poor.

Sodomic cultural domination and the destruction of marriage.

Exploitation of the poor and feeble minded?

Breakdown of the family.

I thought the "most serious of evils" were these.

The fact is, youth unemployment and abandonment of the elderly are not evils, they are symptoms of the evils I've just listed.

But who am I too judge.

Oh, and "modernism" is a heresy.

Rorate hits the mark

Our good friends at the Rorate Caeli blog have two posts which I wish to point you too.

1.  The scandalous behaviour of a tie-wearing bishops from France who has the temerity to call for armed assault against President Assad of Syria in direct dissent to the Holy Father's plea for peace; and if that is not enough, a slap in the face to the Melkite Archbishop.

2. A disgusting piece from the National Catholic Reporter blaming the deaths of the Catholics at Mass last week in Peshawar on themselves.

Do not lose heart friends.

Papal Nuncio to Canada abruptly resigns

Sources close to this writer advised a few days ago that the Papal Nuncio to Canada would be replaced sometime in October, perhaps around the 15th. In an unexpected occurrence, the Most Rev. Pedro López Quintana, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada and Titular Archbishop of Agropoli resigned earlier today. No reason is yet known for the rumoured replacement or now, the sudden resignation and no announcement from the Holy See or the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has been made.  

Born in Barbastro, Spain, on July 27, 1953. He was ordained to the priesthood by His Holiness Pope John Paul II for the Archdiocese of Compostella, Spain on June 15, 1980.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on February 10, 1984 and has served in the Apostolic Nunciatures of Madagascar, the Philippines and India. He was appointed Assessor for General Affairs for the Secretariat of State of the Holy See on February 7, 1998.

He was appointed Titular Archbishop of Agropoli and Apostolic Nuncio on December 12, 2002, and received episcopal ordination by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on January 6, 2003. He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal on February 8, 2003. Then Holy Father Benedict XVI named him Apostolic Nuncio to Canada on December 10, 2009.

Below is the chronology of Archbishop Luigi Ventura. It is worth noting that the "Events" between Apostolic Nucicature's were "appointments," not resignations. This was also the case with Archbishop Quintana's previous appointments and the Nuncio previous to +Ventura. 

Date	Age	Event	Title
9 Dec 1944	68.80	Born	Borgosatollo, Italy
14 Jun 1969	24.5	Ordained Priest	Priest of Brescia, Italy
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Titular Archbishop of Equilium
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Côte d’Ivoire
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Burkina Faso
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Niger
29 Apr 1995	50.4	Ordained Bishop	Titular Archbishop of Equilium
25 Mar 1999	54.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Chile
22 Jun 2001	56.5	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Canada
22 Sep 2009	64.8	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to France

In an article logged in the comment box to this report, the Archbishop spoke last week at the CCCB Annual Plenary and indicated that he was being "called back to Rome."

Let us remember Archbishop Ventura in our prayers.

As information becomes available this post will be updated.

Solemn Latin Mass in Toronto - Our Lady of the Rosary

Please join the Knights of Columbus of Blessed John XXIII Council 4976 and their guests from the  Knights of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem; and the Toronto Traditional Mass Society-UNA VOCE TORONTO, as we gather to honour Our Lady and her victory at the Battle of Lepanto. The Mass will be held on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, Monday, October 7, 2013 at St. Cecelia's Catholic Church at 161 Annette Street, just east of Keele Street in Toronto. A public recitation of the Holy Rosary will begin at 6:30 P.M and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) will be available with the Solemn Mass according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite following at 7:00 P.M. We are pleased to announce that the homilist is Father Raymond J. de Souza.

A collection will be taken to support the ongoing restoration at St. Cecelia's and this will be specifically granted to the church hall. Cheques may be made out to St. Cecelia's Catholic Church Building Fund.

Battle of Lepanto

On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under the command of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and shed tears of thanksgiving to God.

What you may not know is that one of three admirals commanding the Catholic forces at Lepanto was Andrea Doria. He carried a small copy of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. This image is now enshrined in the Church of San Stefano in Aveto, Italy. Not many know that at the Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain, one can view a huge warship lantern that was captured from the Moslems in the Battle of Lepanto. In Rome, look up to the ceiling of S. Maria in Aracoeli and behold decorations in gold taken from the Turkish galleys. In the Doges' Palace in Venice, Italy, one can witness a giant Islamic flag that is now a trophy from a vanquished Turkish ship from the Victory. At Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome, close to the tomb of the great St. Pope Pius V, one was once able to view yet another Islamic flag from the Battle, until 1965, when it was returned to Istanbul in an intended friendly token of concord.

The Rosary

At Lepanto, the Victory over the Moslems was won by the faithful praying the Rosary. Even though they had superior numbers, the Turks really were overmatched. Blessed Padre Pio, the Spiritual Father of the Blue Army, said: "The Rosary is the weapon," and how right he was!

The Battle of Lepanto was at first celebrated liturgically as "Our Lady of Victory." Later, the feast of October 7th was renamed "Our Lady of the Rosary" and extended throughout the Universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1716 (who canonized Pope Pius V in 1712).

And with that we are back to Fatima, Portugal where Our Lady, when asked her name, said: "I am the Lady of the Rosary." At Fatima, Our Lady taught us to pray the Rosary every day. Heaven presented its peace plan at Fatima and truly gave us hope for the world. Conversions were promised at Fatima: the conversion of sinners; the conversion of Russia; and what also appears to be the conversion of Islam. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!

Taken from:

Soul Magazine

© 2001 The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, U.S.A., Inc.

September - October 2001, page 6

For subscription information:

The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, U.S.A., Inc.

PO Box 976

Washington, NJ 07882-0976

Website: http://www.bluearmy.com

E-mail: service@bluearmy.com

or Phone Toll Free: 866-513-1917

We will never forget

"Pride of man and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray his trust,
what with care and toil he buildeth,
tower and temple fall to dust;
but God's power, hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower." 

May those who died on this day eleven years ago in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania rest in the mercy of God; may those who lost loved ones be comforted by Him who suffered for us; may those survivors who suffered then and still do be healed and may those who perpetrated this despicable act face His Divine Judgement.

Abun D'Bashmayo

Let us pray and fast for our brothers and sisters in Syria. (turn down the music at the top right or stop at the left of the bar).

The drumbeats of war; the people don't matter.

"We will not be collateral damage!"

This minion of the malefactor Obama could not even look her in the eye.

Latin Mass in London, Ontario

Next Sunday, September 1, the traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of London begins a new phase. One year ago, the Mass which had been celebrated at the former convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph came to an end. The Mass returned to London in July with a temporary location in the small chapel at Pope John Paul Secondary School. Now that the site construction is complete, the community can move to its permanent home at Regina Mundi College. Built as a minor seminary for the Diocese of London, the college opened in 1963 and closed a decade later and is now part of the Catholic school system. It is located on Wellington Street just south of Hwy. 401. 

The Missa Cantata will begin at 2:00 P.M. 

Sodomite Mafia: Filth in Scotland

The homo-mafia in the Catholic Church must be outed and exorcised. Why didn't Archbishop Conti do something about it when the situation occurred. His silence makes him complicit.

The Holy Father must act to rid the Church of this filth.

Vox

Cardinal blocked abuse investigation, says Archbishop of Glasgow
By STAFF REPORTER on Friday, 23 August 2013

The former Archbishop of Glasgow has said that Cardinal Keith O’Brien blocked an investigation into the Scottish Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse in 2012.

In a letter to the Tablet, Archbishop Mario Conti wrote: “It was the intention of all but one member of the bishops’ conference to commission an independent examination of the historical cases we had on file in all of our respective dioceses and publish the results.”

He continued: “But this was delayed by the objection of the then-President of the Conference; without full participation of all the dioceses the exercise would have been faulty.”

A statement from the Catholic Church in Scotland said: “Archbishop Conti’s letter refers to a decision taken in 2011 by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland to commission an independent academic analysis of statistics relating to abuse and allegations of abuse over a 60 year period from 1952 to 2012.

“This project, with the cooperation of each of the eight dioceses in Scotland, started and ran until 2012, at which time, the then President of the Conference, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, withdrew from the project.

“Without the participation of all the dioceses a ‘National Audit’ was not possible so the analysis was stopped.”

Patriarch of Antioch Refuses to Leave Syria

Patriarch of Antioch Refuses to Leave Syria

Zakka I Iwas rejects speculation about internal church dispute over abducted bishops of Aleppo Vatican City (kath.net / KAP) The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Mar Ignatius Zakka Iwas, does not want to leave his headquarters in Damascus. He made it clear to his office, reported the press service Vatican Fides on Monday. In a statement, the to Fides, it has denied rumors that Zakka I Iwas wanted to move the seat of the Patriarchate because of the Syrian civil war to Turkey. Such a move only magnify the risk that the Syrian Orthodox Church would be "wiped out".

Since the beginning of the fighting there were multiple bombs detonated in the Christian Quarter of Damascus and dozens of people were killed. Radical Islamic fighters among the ranks of the rebels are allegedly suspected to be behind the attacks.

"We don't want only the survival of the See of Antioch in Syria, but also that all people across the country to stay here," he says in the letter. This applies to "our Muslim brothers" just as we hope for the other Christian communities in Syria. The 80 year old Patriarch further informed the office he is in good health. Speculations were rejected with indignation, according to which there has been an intra-church dispute over the abduction of the two Archbishops of Aleppo. There is no sign that bishops Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim (Syrian Orthodox) and Boulos al-Yazigi (Greek Orthodox) missing since since the 22nd of April re still alive. Copyright 2013 Catholic Press Agency, Vienna, Austria

Kath.news...

HT to The Eponymous Flower for this.

Two priests, one Mass, one abomination

This is the Mass. (h/t Rorate Caeli Blog)

First Holy Mass of Father Bertand Lacrois, FSSP; Notre Dame de Victoires, Paris

This on the other hand, is an abomination.

Father Petr Hruska, Parish Priest of Cheb, Czech

To Mark Shea...

Dear Mark Shea,

Thank you for the enormous rise in my readership today. 

I can see that you are still finding it necessary to be uncharitable to those who would disagree with you and sadly you have sucked others into your own vortex.

I won't come back to your site as I refuse to feed the bear (by giving you a nickle for each hit at Patheos.)  You see, I've come to the conclusion that the reason that you are so uncharitable in your combox is that you want people to keep coming back to feed the bear more, just to see how outrageous you have become.

Your brother in charity,

Vox Cantoris

To My Partners in Evil, Patrick Coffin and Fr. Dwight Longenecker

August 7, 2013 By Mark Shea 31 Comments and 0 Reactions

Dear Patrick: What is the matter with you? Why didn’t you have your Liturgy Cop Police Scanner on this morning and catch this photo for immediate commentary and condemnation? Me and Longenecker were down at Dunkin Donuts getting breakfast and you were supposed to be monitoring the internet for all signs of liturgical abuse! Do I have to do everything around here?

Who are the Pelagians?

You've clearly labelled the "rad-trads" Father Longenecker; (I won't link to it, lest I literally feed the bear) as have Mssrs. Staples, Coffin and Shea (talk about anger issues), Mr. Self-published theologian wannabee with all the blurbs and some questionable apologist and his "minions" to say nothing of the others assortment of poseurs who are doing the devil's work of name-calling and labeling your fellow Catholics; now, what do you call this abomination? 

P.S. If you've come here courtesy of the generous link from Mr. Shea, welcome and come back again.

Vox

P.P.S.

"Firstly, I would like to be able to choose music when I log on to a website - not have it forced upon me.What exactly would you have the people mentioned in your rather confusing post do about liturgical abuses which took place in 2011 in the Czech Republic?" Victoria.

Well Victoria, the fact that it is in 2011 in Czech is hardly the issue. The issue is abuse. It seems that it has suddenly become de riguer for many Catholic commentators to use the words "rad-trad" and "mad-trad" and "radical traditionalist" as a slur against there fellow Catholics. This has come from little know people and well-known people as mentioned above, even priests. It is wrong. Period, it needs to stop. It is not from the Lord that these slaps and slanders are executed. In fact, it is straight out of Hell. There is nothing the Devil wants more than an end to the traditional liturgy, Latin, Gregorian chant and a permanent divide of the SSPX from Holy Mother Church. Why? Because it all starts with the Mass and its dignity and solemnity and prayer and the examples above are the antithesis of it; oh, and please enjoy the music. As for confusing, it is not I who is confused.  

Vox  

Eucharistic disgrace at WYD Rio!

Messa in Latino, Italy is reporting on Holy Communion being distributed at World Youth Day in Rio from plastic cups. 

When is this disgrace of World Youth Day going to stop!

Dancing bishops' instructor

Do y'all remember that pathetic exercise of dancing bishops in some "flash mob" demonstration preparing them to do it before the Holy Mass at WYD in Rio?

Well, the alleged "man" in green below that lead them was ...

... this apparent man appearing in various homoerotic publications.

Why am I not surprised?

Why We Should Stop Saying "Radical Traditionalist" and "Rad Trad"

Because it is a direct slap-in-the-face to our beloved Benedict XVI!

Do you get it yet; aside from dividing the fabric of Christ, insulting your Catholic brothers and sisters?

Kevin M. Tierney nails it!

"A few weeks ago, Catholic Answers live did a show on “radical traditionalism” that drew the ire of traditionalists across the board, “radical” and otherwise.  The two senior apologists hosting the show took to the Catholic Answers blog to defend their show from the “Radical Traditionalists” and “mad-trad” point of view.  They have also promised that on August 12, they would devote another show to the issue, in the hopes of clarifying any misunderstandings.  If they really want to help with these misunderstandings, the first thing they must do is the thing they will be least inclined to do:  drop the moniker “radical traditionalist” and “radtrad” entirely.  At best the phrase is a relic of a time that is no longer relevant.  At worst, the term is creating animosity and perpetuating a growing sense of tribalism within Catholicism, especially in America."

( ... )

A final reason to drop the moniker is that we tell Pope Benedict XVI his efforts weren’t wasted.  He worked harder than anyone else in his life to reconcile the SSPX and other groups to full communion with the Church, removing every possible barrier, as long as doing so didn’t contradict defined Church teaching.   

Read it all here.

The Blessed Martyrs Massabki

In these days of continued persecution of Christians in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Gaza let us remember the Brothers Massabki. My maternal grandfather would have been born just around the time of their martyrdom.

Holy Martyrs Massabki, pray for us.

In the Service of the Cause

of the Blessed Martyrs

MASSABKI

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.

On a brighter note to what has been going on locally and in Rome, take a look at this magnificent picture. Sixteen, count'em! Sixteen new postulants this year alone for the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

The community began with four from the Nashville Dominicans of St. Cecelia. They now have 115 and the average age of a nun is 28 years.

s

Here is a video of the production of their upcoming recording.

Of course, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto are more the norm; but ask yourself this?

Who will be left in twenty years?

Will the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto use their multi-million dollar nest egg from property sales to rebuild their Order by following their Rule and the true implementation of the Second Vatican Council as these Domincans have?

Or will they simply blow out the candles?

Due acknowledgement for the title to Irving Berlin.

Toronto Police Service: To Serve and Protect what?

When not pumping nine bullets into an 18 year-old from 20 feet away on the street, at the curb; and then using a taser on him whilst ten cops standing around looking on as he is alone on a streetcar with only a 3" knife in his hand posing no immediate threat to police, this is what Toronto's not-so-finest are up to.

Political correctness has become fascism. 

Pride just about says it all.

Chief Blair needs to resign.

John and Sammy, rest in the peace of the Lord

John Anthony Domet on Queen Street

I've been very angry over the murder of 18 year old Sammy Yatim in Toronto by police, he was a young immigrant to Canada from the trouble in Syria. I say murder because that is what it was. Yatin was 18, a graduate of Brebeuf College School in Toronto. Last Friday night he was on a streetcar tram. He allegedly exposed himself and ordered the riders and driver off or at least, that is the narrative. Odd how our police ensure that we know that he was "exposed" considering they stood by only a few weeks ago whilst some so-called men paraded exposed in a parade. Sammy was apparently brandishing a knife with a 3" (7.5 cm) blade. Police arrived and within less than a minute fired at him nine times, then tasered him, he was dead. Sammy was wrong for brandishing a knife in public; wrong for exposing his private parts, if he indeed did. He may have been drunk, experimented with a drug or had one slipped into a drink, it was an area known for this. We really don't know. There seems to be no apparent history of mental illness; but coming from a country that is torn by war, we don't know what was going on in his mind. His crime was not punishable by death. The police were at the curb, they were not in danger and neither was anyone else; Sammy was on the streetcar behind where the driver would sit, police were not threatened. It was all caught on video. 

Before you jump in to defend Toronto Police, they could have turned the door close switch at the front of the streetcar trapping him inside and pulled the power feed of the line cutting the power. He would have then been secured. They could have waited him out, talked him down or waited for a higher authority; instead, and against their own policy if dealing with distraught individuals, they escalated the situation. They could have used teargas, used the taser before they shot him nine times, (isn't that what it is for?) or pepper spray or rubber bullets. Or they could have been men instead of pansies on bicycles wearing shorts and ttackled him with physical force and used a billy club.

He was one, they were ten, at least and they all stood around whilst one cop shot nine times, three times waited six seconds after he was down and then shot again, six more times.

They stood around and watched an execution. Then they tasered him and watching the video it even appears that they kicked him whilst he was down inside the trolley, the cameras inside will reveal the truth.

It seems to me that if there were no public videos, no YouTube, the story-line would have been much different from Chief Blair, "He was a mad-man, we tasered him without success, we had no choice but to bring him down, it was a good shoot." Lots of people are angry, some are the usual anti-police suspects and anarchists, but why am I so angry, other than for the loss of young life unnecessarily and for his family and my City. 

The man pictured above is my late uncle, John Anthony Domet. John died at the age which I am now of a heart attack. It came after years of psychotropic drugs and electroschock therapy treatments. John literally spent his entire life on Queen Street, only a few blocks from where Sammy died. He was born in 1924 at home above the family grocery store at Queen and St. Patrick Streets and went to St. Patrick's School and Church. He opened a Lebanese restaurant, the Arabian Village, in the early 1950's, long ahead of its time and it too was on Queen Street, it later became George's Bourbon Street and was next to the Rex Hotel where John would down a beer, because he had no liquor license next door. Later, after schizophrenia and manic-depressive disorder set-in following his mother's death, John spent much more time on Queen Street at the mental hospital and for a time at the then Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital only a few blocks from where the story below unfolds. John lived his later years in a rooming house in Parkdale just south of Queen Street and his funeral was at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church on Queen Street. His entire life was lived on one street within 3 kilometers. I helped carry him to his grave. He was a much-loved uncle by all of us, our gentle giant.

When I was about six years old, (1962) Uncle John was suffering some kind of delusion. He was at the house and upset. He picked up a kitchen knife and threw it across the room in anger, not at anyone in particular. He then ran out of the house. My mother who loved him like her own brother called the family doctor, a man with a rather odd name, Dr. Jolly. She told him what happened and said that I was alone at home and she was going out to look for Johnny.

A few minutes later, Doc Jolly's black Lincoln Continental pulled up in front of the house, he came to get me not to leave me alone, I imagine in case Uncle John came back. John would never hurt anyone; we never had any fear of him, we loved him deeply and he knew it. Doc's daughter was in the car. I sat in the back seat.

It seems that somewhere in that period, Doc called the police.

The Lincoln pulled away from the house and went straight down to the "highway" as we called it then, it is now a street with streetcar trams that John often took and which Sammy died on.

As we got to the corner, there, outside the Laundromat, now a Sushi restaurant, was Uncle John. He was lying on his back, with two cops over him and guns drawn pointed at his head. Mike Offstein, my Lebanese uncle's good Jewish friend and the best Variety Shop owner one could ever know as a child, was there talking the police down to ensure that his friend John was safe.

That was 1962. I remember it as if it were yesterday. 

The police have learnt little over the years. John could have been Lestor Donaldson or Wayne Williams, Edmund Yu, Otto Vass or Sylvia Klibingaitis or others who had some form of mental illness or distress and were shot by Toronto Police because it was the easier way out.

It could have happened to John Anthony Domet if not for Mike Offstein and I could have witnessed it all at the age of six.

God rest you Uncle John.

God rest you Sammy Yatin.

Martha, Martha!

On this Feast of St. Martha, my late mother's name Saint, Vox brings you: